Teaching Vocabulary, part 4 (Final Volley)

Hello everyone,

I'm including the following exchange on our current subject of vocabulary:

COMBE: After the profanity-laced contribution is finished, I might briefly teach the correct language. (Sometimes I only say, "That was a good point--I wish it were expressed with less profanity.")

TEACHER: I think I understand your position a little better now. Although I may use slang, I would never use profanity. There are many slang terms that are "hip" to our kids, but not profane or disrespectful. This is what I mean when I say that using slang in the classroom is ok.

COMBE: I agree as well. There's no point in continually using formal language if they don't get it. I usually put difficult concepts into language I know they'll understand (though even that has to be done carefully). Given the option, however, I think it is pedagogically sound to model formally language as much as possible, keeping in mind that there are a variety of factors at play, and that concept-driven disciplines will focus more on concepts than language (if they are separable).

Jeff Combe